Sun Belt Conference 2010 Baseball Preview

2009 Regular Season Champion: Middle Tennessee & Western Kentucky * MTSU and WKU shared the regular season crown based on their identical 21-8 league marks. The Blue Raiders were the #1 seed at the Sun Belt Tournament, because they won their two head-to-head games vs. the Hilltoppers (game 3 of their series was rained-out).

2009 Tournament Champion: Middle Tennessee beat Louisiana-Monroe 3-1

Banner Year: Middle Tennessee earned the Sun Belt Conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid by winning the league tournament in 2009. Regular season co-champion Western Kentucky garnered the program’s first-ever at-large bid when it was picked for the Oxford, MS Regional.

On The Way Out: The University of New Orleans recently announced that it will leave the Sun Belt Conference and the Division I ranks after the current season. The program plans to begin the transition to Division III.

Heart Of The Order: Arkansas State loses three of its top five hitters, but the team’s 3 and 4 batters in the line-up, but Todd Baumgartner (.350, 8 HR, 53 RBIs, 13 SB) and Murray Watts (.305, 10 HR, 44 RBIs), both return. One of those two led the Red Wolves in nearly every offensive category in 2009. Watts is in his third season at his home town school after redshirting at Arkansas in 2007. Leadoff man Cody Pace (.282) is back for his senior season as well.

Home Opportunities: The Red Wolves host 2009 Sun Belt Co-ChampsMiddle Tennessee and Western Kentucky as well as 2009 Super Regional host Ole Miss this season.

Hey Rookie: Former big league pitcher Jim Morris is the team’s featured speaker at its preseason Grand Slam Banquet. The movie “The Rookie” was based on Morris’ inspirational and non-traditional route to Major League Baseball.

Trojan Turnover: UALR has 29 players on its roster (including the four previously mentioned returnees) who began their college baseball careers at other schools (mostly junior colleges). 20 junior college transfers, including 2009 NJCCA All-AmericansCody Giles, Ryan Juris and Casey McCollum, are among 26 newcomers on this year’s roster.

Balancing Act: FAU had 12 batters who saw extensive duty in the line-up in 2009. Seven of them hit between 6 and a team-leading 9 home runs and had between 32 and 52 RBIs (departed William Block led the team in both categories). Junior SS Nick Delguidice (.321, 6 HR, 38 RBIs) is the only returnee from that group.

Something To Build On: Nick Albaladejo (.373, 10 RBIs) started just 20 games as a freshman last year, but five of them were in the Owl’s last seven games. The catcher finished his season by being named to the Sun Belt Conference All-Tournament Team. He was 7 for 12 (.583) with four of his total 10 RBIs in three tournament games. Albaladejo started just four of FAU’s first 23 games, but earned more playing time by hitting .308 in his opportunities.

Owl Arms: Junior starter Mike Gipson (4-5, 5.93) is FAU’s top returning starter. He had the staff’s only complete game and also earned a save last year. Fellow junior Glen Troyanowski (4-3, 5.75 ERA, 6 SVs) is the top arm back in the bullpen. Sophomore Hugh Adams (3-2, 3 SV) returns as well.

Big East Battles: The Owls open the season by hosting a 3-game series vs. Big East member Cincinnati. They also host Big East team Pittsburgh (March 10) and Rutgers (March 16 & 17) in 2010.

Is That A Hole Or The Grand Canyon?: FIU returns six of its top nine batters from last year’s team, but it loses one of the top power hitters in the country. Tyler Townsend’s 24 home runs ranked 8th in the nation, his .434 batting average was 13th and he was 20th in the NCAA rankings with 77 RBIs. He was taken by Baltimore in the third round of the 2009 MLB Draft.

Golden Panthers Go West : 18 of FIU’s first 22 games are in the state of Florida. The only exceptions are four are games vs. Utah Valley State, Cal-Riverside, Cal Poly, and Arizona State at the Coca Cola Classic March 4-7 in Surprise, AZ.

Returning Pitching: Senior Zach Osborne (5-3, 3.44 ERA) who had both of the staff’s complete games as well as a save and junior Michael Cook (5-3, 5.88 ERA) are the top starters to return. The duo tied for the team lead in wins. Senior Justin Robichaux (3-3, 1.98 ERA, 2 SV) started six games and came out of the pen11 times last year. They lose LHP Greg Wilborn, who was drafted in the 18th round by the Dodgers.

Bayou Cookin’: The Ragin Cajuns play 22 of their first 25 and 46 games overall in Louisiana this season.

So Long Soignier: ULM loses Ben Soignier, who led the Warhawks in batting average (.376), doubles (22), RBIs (71), slg% (.628), and on-base percentage (.500) last year. He also hit 11 HR. Soignier was drafted in the 18th round by Florida last year after a stellar senior season.

Oh Canada: Another key loss is OF Jon Prevost (.332, 15 HR, 52 RBIs). The Montreal native was recently named to the Canadian Baseball Network’s 2009 All-Canadian College First Team.

The Champ Is Here: The defending conference champions are led by junior OF/P Bryce Brentz. The reigning SBC Player of the Year led the nation in batting average (.465), home runs (28-T), and slugging % (.930), while his .535 on-base % ranked 4th nationally. Brentz was also 5-3 with a 4.57 ERA and a complete game in 14 starts on the mound.

Baseball Jones: Sophomore OF Rodarrick Jones (.299,7 HR, 12 SB) was named the New York Collegiate Summer League’s #3 prospect by Baseball America. In 41 games for Glen Falls last summer he hit .279 with 13 stolen bases and a team-high 25 RBIs.

Two Sport Milestone: Freshman Eddy Cabrera is also a member of the USA football team. 2009 was South Alabama’s first season of college football, which makes Cabrera the first player in the 45-year history of the USA baseball program to play both football and baseball. The defensive back played in five games last fall and ranked third on the team with two interceptions.

Pitching Questions: The Jaguars lose three of their top starters, Brandon Sage (3-6, 4.64 ERA), Matt Jackson (5-4, 5.33 ERA) and Miles Ethridge (4-4, 7.38 ERA), who combined to make 35 of the team’s 55 starts last year. They do return their most versatile pitcher, Lance Baxter (3-3, 3.74 ERA). The senior southpaw made seven starts and also led the staff with 6 saves.

No Doss: The Jaguars lose one of the most prolific hitters in program history, David Doss. The catcher Leaves South Alabama as the Jags’ all-time leader in career hits (312), doubles (70), RBI (197) and at-bats (851). He hit .378 with 12 HR and 59 RBIs last year before being drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Solid Returns: USA does return a quartet of solid hitters from last year’s team. OF Adam Heisler led the Jags with a .309 average while stealing 16 bases, Jake Overstreet hit .336 with 18 doubles and 4 HR, Clint Reynolds hit .328 with a team-high 18 stolen bases, and INF Zach Grichor hit .306.

En-masse Experience: Troy returns 13 seniors, of which 9 are position players. Eight of those nine have been starters at some point in their first three years. The team’s top two hitters from 2009, OF Miles Hoyle (.350, 9 HR, 35 RBIs) and 1B Ryan Ditthardt (.327, 7 HR, 54 RBIs) along with OF Chad Watson, (.317, 6 HR, 10 SB) are included in the veteran group.

Historic Hilltoppers: WKU’s share of the Sun Belt Conference regular season crown in 2009 was a program first. The team also advanced to its first-ever NCAA Regional championship game before falling to Ole Miss. Their at-large bid was also a first for the program.

No Net Gains: The Hilltoppers have two huge holes to fill in the middle of their line-up this year. Wade Gaynor (.371, 25 HR, 78 RBIs, 21 SB) was drafted in the 3rd round by Detroit last year with the 89th overall pick. The highest draft pick in the Hilltoppers’ 90-year history is also the first WKU player to hit 20 HR and steal 20 bases in the same season. Chad Cregar (.325, 19 HR, 63 RBIs, 19 SB) was drafted by Florida. The team also loses 2009 Sun Belt Pitcher of the YearMatt Hightower (7-3, 4.01 ERA), who also hit .300 with 11 HR and 53 RBIs.

Key Returns: Western Kentucky does return a slew of key players. Junior catcher Matt Rice is a preseason All-American. He’s joined in the line-up by Jake Wells Matt Payton and OF Kes Carter, who only started 24 games last year. Starting pitchers Shane Cameron (5-2, 5.03 ERA) and Matt Ridings (8-2, 4.84 ERA) are back. Ridings was drafted last June, but opted to return for his senior season. Eight WKU pitchers combined for 19 saves last year. Senior LHP Bart Carter (6-1, 6.00) led the staff with 4 saves.